


Reunion

by Owlix



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Developing Relationship, M/M, Polyamory, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 04:39:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3837400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owlix/pseuds/Owlix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The trinity is reunited. Magnus shows Drift who he is without the armor, despite his reservations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Set in some nebulous future where Drift has returned to the Lost Light.

Things looked different when Magnus wasn’t in the armor. And this was something new for all of them.

It wasn’t like they hadn’t been…  _together_ before, in some capacity. Rodimus was a needy mech, and Drift was too - surprisingly so, for someone with his reputation for ruthlessness. But Magnus of all people knew better than to judge someone solely by their reputation. Drift’s -  _Deadlock’s_ \- had been thoroughly earned by his actions, but it was also… incomplete.

Drift stared at him. Magnus tried to tell himself that he was used to being stared at. It was only half a lie; people stared at Ultra Magnus, but not the way Drift was staring at him now. Magnus told himself that it was only natural for Drift to stare. It was a matter of contrast.

But that wasn’t the limit of it. Magnus also knew that he - that  _Minimus_ \- wasn’t exactly conventionally aesthetically pleasing. He was remarkably small - small even for a minibot, a far departure from the imposing figure he cut in the armor. His root mode lacked any indication of an alt - a singularly, almost universally unattractive feature. His optics were red - a color considered unappealing at best among the Autobot faction.

Although it occurred to Magnus that perhaps he didn’t have to worry about that last part when it came to Drift.

Drift knelt down and reached a hand out, but he didn’t touch. He held the hand open-palmed, just close enough to Magnus’ chestplate that their electromagnetic fields pushed faintly against each other. Magnus stood still and silent, unsure what Drift expected of him.

Magnus’ HUD followed Drift’s movement, proximity sensors sending him a low-priority ping as he got close, but the Enforcer-specific HUD was integrated into the armor - it vanished when Magnus removed his helmet. It was strange to look at Drift and see no reminder of his criminal history, no algorithmic warning of his potential for future law-breaking - just a mech. Just Drift as he was now, cut loose from all that he’d been.

It felt uncomfortable. It also felt strangely freeing.

Drift closed his optics. He smiled, an expression that filled Magnus with an unexpected, difficult to identify emotion. Had he…  _missed_ Drift? That… didn’t follow. He’d felt the absence of Drift’s support, certainly - Rodimus was a high-maintenance mech, and Magnus had appreciated Drift’s help in managing him even as he’d not always approved of his methods - but this feeling, whatever it was, was something else. Not a cold clinical relief at the offer of assistance.

Magnus didn’t like Drift. He’d never been fond of him. He’d tolerated Drift because of the Reintegration Act. Because of Drift’s reliably good behavior after acquiring his badge, and his rank on the ship’s command crew. Because of Magnus’ unfailing belief that all people deserved to be treated fairly under the law, regardless of what they’d done.

And because of Rodimus - an explanation that was excusing more and more of Magnus’ behavior over the years, in ways that made him increasingly uncomfortable.

(His current situation - here in front of not just Rodimus but also Drift, fully exposed, irreducible - that was also because of Rodimus. Magnus had not initially embraced the idea. Rodimus had talked him round, with arguments that seemed much more reasonable when they were coming out of Rodimus’ mouth than when Magnus thought them over later.)

No, Magnus had never been  _fond_ of Drift. But things were different without the armor.  _He_ was different, in ways that he had yet to map out the edges of despite conversations with Rung and extensive reading on the mind-body-altmode trichotomy.

Drift’s optics opened. His smile reached them, warm and luminous, and as he met Magnus’ gaze the recognition was clear.

Drift moved to withdraw his hand. Magnus caught it, and held.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to those who reminded me that I should write more Rossum's Trinity!


End file.
